As the flowers bloom, the trees bud, and pollen descends over every object left outside for any period of time (patio furniture, a parked car, your kids’ toys that you definitely asked them to bring in yesterday afternoon but are now caked in a thin layer of yellow … sigh)

law school admissions officers continue to navigate their transition zone between different cycles.

On the one hand—and much like the aforementioned pollen—many AdComms are allowing the dust to settle after the first round of deposit deadlines. As we’ll discuss below, we’re seeing some waitlist activity at a few schools and hearing rumblings of continued admission offers at others. It’s a reminder that there is still work to be done for this admissions cycle.

On the other hand, the April LSAT results came back and June registration numbers are holding steady. It certainly appears that the coming admissions cycle won’t offer a reprieve from this year’s record numbers.

But adding a unique twist to this time of year for AdComms is the admissions cycle from three years ago. That’s right—we’re approaching final exams and graduation season! Assisting fellow law school administrators with graduation matters (the registrar always needs a hand in rolling diplomas, and student services never turns away a volunteer willing to proctor a final exam) is a reminder for AdComms of the long-term repercussions of their work. It’s not just evaluating applications and enrolling a class, it’s also helping people to reset their personal and professional arcs. So it’s a good time for them to sniff the flowers, sneeze a bit, and remember the broader role they play at their schools.

And speaking of said roles and work, there’s plenty to keep track of as we look at the headlines around the world of law school admissions.

National LSAT Figures

Looking ahead to the next cycle, the April LSAT results went live last Wednesday, and LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report finally lets us get a sense of what this will mean for the upcoming admissions cycle.

  • Test-taking numbers only went up by 3% versus the April 2024 exam, but the important thing is that it’s still an increase.
  • The percentage of first-time test takers increased from 56.3% on the April 2024 exam to 58.5% this year. What does that mean? That there weren’t applicants from this year who were taking one last LSAT in the hopes of increasing their chances of admission for this cycle. Rather, these are people who are looking ahead to the 2025-2026 admissions cycle.

Put those two stats together—increased test takers, increased percentage of first-time test takers—and that continues to build the case that this upcoming admissions cycle will be as competitive as this year’s record cycle.

Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that June LSAT registrations went down by 6% this past week. That’s a bit more than we typically see a month out from an LSAT administration. Our theory is that this was largely driven by two groups:

  • People who had taken the April LSAT and had pre-registered for the June exam, got their scores back on the April exam, and saw that they had achieved their target score, thus canceling the June test,
  • And people who had taken the April LSAT and had pre-registered for the June exam, got their scores back on the April exam, and saw that they had fallen far short of their target score, thus canceling the June test and resetting their targets for the August or September tests.

In either case, that shouldn’t drastically affect our predictions for high application numbers in this coming cycle, but we’ll certainly continue to monitor this stat in the coming weeks.

Waitlist Movement

And speaking of monitoring things, did you feel the rumblings over on lawschooldata.org? Or maybe on the r/LSA threads?

While some schools are still making initial offers, others have started moving on to their waitlists. Not too shabby!

Let’s dive in and see if we can figure out anything more from the tea leaves. In the case of Michigan, sorting their lsd.law entries by date and result yields the following table:

This isn’t a lot of data to consider, but we can at least tell:

  • The three applicants who indicated that they were admitted from the waitlist all have high GPAs.
  • All three received a scholarship offer that’s in line with Michigan’s previous awards.
  • One of the two high LSATs also has some minor character and fitness issues.

I would read this as Michigan needing a slight preference for high GPAs at this point but also feeling like they could use a few more high LSATs while they’re at it. Most importantly, being able to offer regular scholarships at this juncture is promising.

Additionally, the two applicants admitted before May 1 have stats below Michigan’s medians but indicate that they are underrepresented minorities. While neither indicates that they had been on the waitlist, both applied before Thanksgiving—if they weren’t on the waitlist they were basically on the waitlist. So being admitted at this juncture and receiving those kinds of scholarship awards also makes it seem like Michigan might be concerned about their diversity enrollment.

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at Duke’s recent admits:

No one indicated that they were on the waitlist. Rather, it appears that they applied a little later in the process in either January or February. But they all have LSATs above Duke’s most recent 170 median, and all but one have GPAs above Duke’s most recent median in that metric. None have indicated financial awards. So while Duke still has space for students with high stats, it may be possible that they’ve spent their scholarship budget.

But now let’s ask the bigger question—how can you use this information?

First, you can set your expectations accordingly. For example, anyone still waiting for a decision from Duke may want to start their loan paperwork now because the possibility of a scholarship offer doesn’t look promising.

Second, both schools are giving a sense of the pools they’re drawing from. If anyone is on the Michigan waitlist and has a high GPA (if not a high LSAT, too), it looks like they’ve got some hope. Meanwhile, folks on the Duke waitlist are likely going to have to wait a bit longer because that school’s admissions office is admitting people (YES!) but not yet admitting people from the waitlist (…boo….).

And let’s say that you fall into one of these groups for a particular school—what then? If you remain interested in admission, it could be an opportune time to send in an updated letter of continued interest that mentions how the school is your top choice. It certainly wouldn’t hurt and maybe—just maybe!—you’ll be in the right place at the right time for an admit offer!

7Sage Events

We have another AMA-style session on May 7th with one of our LSAT tutors and one of our admissions consultants. Also, a reminder that you can check out our past sessions via our Class Library—just enter “Admissions” into the search bar.

The most recent episode of the 7Sage Admissions Podcast dropped on Monday and is all about waitlists! Be sure to tune in on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts!